...and what did we learn from this election?

Nov. 14, 2012

Written by

Senior Writer

We learned that the Salinas Valley and the city itself is just as vulnerable to the rise of political action committee money as anywhere else in the nation.

Arguably the two largest groups that exercised the most power (money = power, power = money) in the immediate city area was the new Physicians PAC at SVMH and the more established Salinas Valley Leadership Group led by builder-contractor Don Chapin.

Of course the show stopper was the whopping $132,500 given to Marc Del Piero’s District supervisorial campaign by the North Salinas Valley Fund for Responsible Growth, a mysterious 501(c)4 slow-growth group.

But even with that giant infusion of cash, it looks like the voters had other things in mind for incumbent Dave Potter — like returning him to office for another four years.

Funny how voters often demand to get in the last word.

In the case of the SVLG, some of their horses won, others did not. In the case of the Physician’s PAC, the docs should be proud that they purchased a seat on the SVMH board of directors for newbie candidate Rafael Garcia.

I totally get it that in this post-Citizens United world of ours, almost anything goes.

But that doesn’t mean I have to like it and it certainly doesn’t mean that’s the way it should be.

Sorry folks, I don’t care what a wrong-headed Supreme Court says — corporations are not people and they don’t have the same rights as you and me. And PACs should be limited in the amount of influence they can spread in local and regional campaigns.

McShane and his special police tax

OK, let’s just get it out in the open. Councilman Steve McShane wants you to support putting a quarter-cent special police tax on a future ballot. He’s been seen skulking around town recently whispering in people’s ears about it, but yet he remains strangely shy about it with others.

Could it be that the conservative council member is feeling a little awkward about things — given his party affiliation?

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It’s kinda like watching a cat get across a corrugated metal roof on a hot summer’s day.

That’s OK, councilman, I understand. As one of the few full-time conservatives on the council in a city that enjoys a strong Democratic majority, it must get lonely up there on the dais.

But in this case McShane’s head and heart are in the right place.

We need such a tax because our police department cannot go on in the shape it’s in.

“Neighborhoods have had enough of critically underfunded staffing and infrastructure for the Salinas Police Department,” McShane said in a email tinged with bureaucratese. “A special tax requires 2/3 vote and will include a specific application with as many safeguards as we would like for the life if the tax.”

Roughly translated that means that the people in his district are getting are getting tired of slow response times and delays in calls for service from the police and that it’s well past time the city build a new police hut and, oh, yeah, hire more cops.

McShane also says there should be a 10-year sunset on the special tax and that when funds from this tax are being used, a special public application be filled out and submitted first to an oversight board.

Oh, yeah, the councilman says happy holidays to one and all.

(OK, that last line was from me.)

Kidding aside, it doesn’t matter where this is coming from. It shouldn’t matter what your party affiliation is.

What matters is that we all face the truth and get this done.

McShane says the tax, if approved, could generate $50 million for the new station (and some rolling stock). The funds could also hire an initial 50 more officers, which McShane says could put “a huge dent in response times and bring back more community policing.”

Given that Salinas voters approved Measure E by more than 75 percent, I think it’s time to move ahead with a special police tax.

On Nov. 6 the Salinas electorate signaled that it understood just how profoundly underfunded the city is and that after a long period of saying no, it’s time now to say yes and help the city begin to patch itself back together.

• Jeff Mitchell covers Salinas City Hall and local politics. Send tips or story ideas by email to: jemitchell@

theCalifornian.com; or by phone: 831-754-4281. He can be heard live on the air Fridays at 8:10 a.m. on KION 1460-AM and KION 101.1-FM. You also can follow Under the Dome on Twitter at twitter.com/